Pigeons & Planes: Higher Brothers ‘Type-3’ EP

Chinese rap crew Higher Brothers returned last month with their Journey to the WestEP, bringing Ski Mask the Slump God along for the ride. Keeping their impressive work ethic up, they’ve returned with yet another exciting EP. Type-3 takes something of a different approach to Journey to the West, though, featuring solo tracks from all four of the group’s members rather than a collaborative effort. Plus, it’s all produced by their frequent collaborator, Harikiri.

To coincide with the release of the sleek EP, which flaunts what each member brings to the group, 88rising have shared immediate highlight “Nothing Wrong.” Featuring DZ trying something a little different to what we usually expect from the four-piece, “Nothing Wrong” is a smooth and colorful single full of some gorgeous singing and effortless rapping. It’s also got a CGI video that matches the vibrancy of the track itself, although DZ unfortunately doesn’t turn up in the video itself.

The rest of the group shine on their respective tracks, too, with Melo’s “5:30AM” flipping the tone almost immediately before MaSiWei finds a middle-ground between the two on “Storm.” Psy.P closes out the EP with the funky and manic “AD Milk,” proving that there’s a lot more to Higher Brothers than initially thought.

We spoke to Higher Brothers before they dropped their debut album Black Cab last year in our feature exploring rap around the world, and they had high hopes for their future. Ever since, they’ve managed to thrive and gain a huge audience in both China and North America. “The rap scene is exploding in China in terms of audience and passion for it, and we are the leaders of that movement,” they told us at the time, and it’s hard to find fault considering where they’re at now.